CMs of 10 non-BJP states boycott PM Modi’s NITI Aayog meet

CMs of Delhi, WB, Bihar, Punjab, Kerala, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, TN, Telangana and Karnataka skip NITI Aayog meet

| Updated: 27 May, 2023 8:36 pm IST

PM Narendra Modi chaired the all important meeting

NEW DELHI: Chief ministers of 10 non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states skipped the NITI Aayog’s governing council meeting held in New Delhi on Saturday. The meeting was chaired by Prime minister Narendra Modi.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, CM Nitish Kumar, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin and Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao skipped the important meeting to deliberate on key issues like health, women’s empowerment and infrastructure development.

While the boycott was more of a show of unity by the opposition, Congress, the key opposition party, appeared to have charted a path of its own.

While Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot gave the meeting a miss, the CMs of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel, and Himachal Pradesh, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, attended the meeting.

Earlier on Friday, CM Kejriwal decided to skip the meeting to protest the ordinance passed by the central government, which overturned the Supreme Court’s order on the state’s control over services.

In a letter addressed to PM Modi, CM Kejriwal wrote that there was no use attending this meeting, when “the centre is openly making fun of cooperative federalism”.

“NITI Aayog’s objective is to prepare a vision for India and promote cooperative federalism. But in the past few years, the way democracy has been attacked and the way the non-BJP governments are being toppled is neither our country’s vision nor cooperative federalism,” CM Kejriwal wrote in his letter.

Punjab CM Mann decided to skip the meeting after the central government’s decision not to pay ₹3,600 crores to the state towards the rural development fee (RDF).

CM Rao said he would be hosting CM Kejriwal in Hyderabad on Saturday. Delhi is meeting CM Rao to seek his support to oppose the central government’s ordinance on control of services in the national capital.

West Bengal CM Banerjee had already decided that she would not attend the NITI Aayog’s Governing Council meeting. Though she had deputed the state’s finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, the central government had rejected the request.

Odisha CMO cited CM Patnaik’s prior commitments in Odisha as a reason for not attending the NITI Aayog meeting.

While Rajasthan CM Gehlot cited illness as the reason for not attending the meeting, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said he had several programmes in Patna on Saturday.

Karnataka’s CM Siddaramaiah is busy with the swearing-in program to expand his cabinet on Saturday, while TN CM Stalin is on a two-nation tour.

Kerala CM Vijayan has not given any reason for his absence at the meeting.

NITI Aayog stated that “Eight prominent themes will be discussed during the day-long meeting, including (i) Viksit Bharat@2047, (ii) Thrust on MSMEs, (iii) Infrastructure and Investments, (iv) Minimising Compliances, (v) Women Empowerment, (vi) Health and Nutrition, (vii) Skill Development, and (viii) Gati Shakti for area development and social infrastructure.”

It added, “The meeting will see the participation of Chief Ministers/Lt Governors of all states and Union Territories, Union Ministers as ex-officio members, and the vice-chairman and Members of NITI Aayog”.